Waist-garments, such as shorts, swimsuits, even full-length trousers and various other similar garments, often share a particular problem. The material of the leg-portions along the inner-seams tends to ride up and bunch in the crotch area.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,193 (Hood) describes a clothing arrangement incorporating “a stay member secured to the lateral inner area of the pant leg such that the stay member substantially prevents the interior lateral lower edge from moving towards the crotch when the pant leg is worn by a person.” While the Hood invention represents an important advance which overcomes the problem of material riding up and bunching in the crotch area of waist-garments, as described above, significant improvements are needed to make such advantages easily available for people experiencing such problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,692,389 (Lamkin) describes a garment stay secured to a garment without sewing it in place. More particularly, the stay is bonded to the garment by a separate patch that, upon application to the garment, traps the stay in place. The patch is bonded to the garment with the use of thermosetting resin and application of heat and pressure. Lamkin's method is complex and difficult to perform.
Known garment stays have a variety of additional problems and disadvantages. In some cases, stays may be positioned in locations on garments which cause skin irritation to the wearers. In other cases, sharp ends of the stays may project through cloth, causing a variety of problems, including causing wear at particular points of garment material. Furthermore, a variety of ways providing stays on garments can be problematic. Furthermore, it would be desirable to have garment stay devices overcoming a variety of problems, including those described above.